Acupuncture is a qualifying expense in your FSA and HSA, but you need a doctors note recommending acupuncture in order to use your tax advantaged health dollars to pay for it. You may wonder if a medical doctor would recommend acupuncture.
Eastern medicine is gaining in popularity. Many people trust the 5,000 year old practice of acupuncture to cure or offer relief from a myriad of medical complaints. But, would a Western medical doctor recommend acupuncture? It may surprise you that yes, many doctors do recommend acupuncture.
According to the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, a medical doctor “tell(s) patients that if their treatment, according to a Western diagnosis with options, isn’t resolving the problem, is quite expensive, or has significant side effects/hassles associated with it, then clearly acupuncture is worth a try. I include the Western diagnosis criteria because I think, as just an example, it is ridiculous to treat someones dizziness with acupuncture if what they need is to have excessive wax cleaned out from their ear canals. On the other hand, if one is having difficulty controlling or improving ones asthma with Western treatments, a trial of acupuncture makes utmost sense.”
Conditions Recommended for Acupuncture by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.)
Respiratory Diseases
- Acute sinusitis
- Acute rhinitis
- Common cold
- Acute tonsillitis
Bronchopulmonary Diseases
- Acute bronchitis
- Bronchial asthma
Eye Disorders
- Acute conjuctivitis
- Cataract (without complications)
- Myopia
- Central retinitis
Disorders of the Mouth Cavity
- Toothache
- Pain after tooth extraction
- Gingivitis
- Pharyngitis
Orthopedic Disorders
- Periarthritis humeroscapularis
- Tennis elbow
- Sciatica
- Low back pain
- Rheumatoid arthritis
Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Spasm of the esophagus and cardia
- Hiccups
- Gastroptosis
- Acute and chronic gastritis
- Gastric hyperacidity
- Chronic duodenal ulcer
- Acute and chronic colitis
- Acute bacterial dysentery
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Paralytic ileus
Neurologic Disorders
- Headache
- Migraine
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- Facial paralysis
- Paralysis after apoplectic fit
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Paralysis caused by poliomyelitis
- Meniere’s syndrome
- Neurogenic bladder dysfunction
- Nocturnal enuresis
- Intercostal neuralgia
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